On to the Midwest

Three stops in a week…Missouri-Kansas-Missouri

We moved Northeast from central Oklahoma to central Missouri over the last week, taking a bit of a Zig-Zag route (including ), with 3 stops: Joplin, MO for 2 nights, Lawrence, KS (between Topeka & Kansas City) for 3 nights, and Columbia, MO (north of Jefferson City) for 2 nights. All places we’ve never been before…new states to camp in, Missouri (#27), Kansas (#28)…and we squeezed in a lot of touring:

3 new National Park Sites:

George Washington Carver National Monument (#197), south of Joplin, where the young child known as the “Plant Doctor” tended his secret garden while observing the day-to-day operations of a 19th century farm.
Fort Scott National Historic Site (#198), about halfway enroute to Lawrence, established in 1842 to keep settlers in Missouri out of Indian Territory and to keep Native Americans out of Missouri. Fort Scott sent Dragoons out to protect emigrants on the Oregon & Santa Fe Trails (violating initial mission), was embroiled in Bleeding Kansas events, was an important logistical and supply center for Union troops during the Civil War, was where the 1^st Kansas Colored Infantry mustered in, and more.
Brown v Board of Education National Historical Park (#199) in Topeka, at the historic Monroe School, commemorates the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision (May 17, 1954) that ended racial segregation in public schools (ultimately).

Statue of George Washington Carver as a boy, near where he tended his secret garden
Lizzy parked, with Fort Scott behind her
Monroe School & School Yard in Topeka

Tours of 2 new State Capitols:

Kansas State Capitol in Topeka (#17), from Lawrence, where we took both tours with a whole passel of 4th graders. The first tour was up into the dome…the tallest in the country you can climb…and it was 296 steps!!!
Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City (#18), from Columbia, where we took the tour with a smaller passel of 4th-8th graders.

A game at 1 new MLB Ballpark, ON Jackie Robinson Day!

Atlanta Braves @ Kansas City Royals at the Kauffman Stadium (#12)
KC, the city where Jackie Robinson started playing ball for the Kansas City Monarchs!
2 ¹/₂ hour Rain Delay (& hail), ~45^o!

And More!!!

We had lunch with Jim, an old RPI Friend of Gail’s, at a truck stop near his house, enroute to Columbia. And we managed to visit a few other sites:

The Oklahoma/Kansas/Missouri Tri-State Marker
Grand Falls in Joplin, Missouri
Bonnie & Clyde’s Garage Apartment in Joplin (OK, just a drive-by, as it is a private residence, but, we missed the 90th anniversary of the shootout there, by 1 day!)
Joplin Route 66 Mural Park
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri
Jefferson Landing in Jefferson City, Missouri